Musical instrument.



J. C. DEAGN.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION EILBD 5111214, 1913.

.Pammed July 21., im.

' useful Improvement in Musical lnstrumenta y ence to the accompanying drawing showing cise, and exact description, reference being and the construction of sectional resonating tubes, are claimed in my copending appl1ca the direction of arrow 5 in Fig. 2; Fig. G

JOHN C. DEAGAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification of Lettrs Patent.

Musical. INSTRUMENT.

Patented July 21, 1914.

.pplication led September 4, 1913. SerialNo. 788,095.

To all whom may concern 1 3e it` .lnown that I', J oHN C. DEAGAN, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllin 1s, have invented a certain new and/ of which the following is a full, clear, conhad tothe accompanying drawings, forming a -part of this specification.

Myv invention relates to musical instruments and has a number of objects and advantages in view, though certain of the novel characteristics herein disclosed in-` cluding thev construction of sounding bars tionSSerial No. 807,663, filed December 19, 1913, Slerial'No. 807,664, filed December 19, 1913and Serial No. 818,773, filed February 111, 1914..

I will explain my invention fully by referthe preferred embodiment thereof and in Which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a musical sound producing element constructed in accordance. with my invention, a portion of another sound producing element entering into the formation of a musicalinstruinent being indicated; Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2 2 of Fig. l; Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views .illustrating differing positions of adjustment of a part of the structure illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 5 is a view in is a sectional view on line 6 6 of Fig'.'2; and Fig. 7 is a view illustrating a modification.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference throughout the different figures.

The sound producing elementsshown are in the shape of sounding bars 1 which may be struck by an operating hammer in order to set them into sound producing vibration. The sounding bars of wood or metal have.. their top and bottom s'des symmetrically concave as illustrated atl in Fig. 2, soundproducing vibrations emanating freely from, both sides of the bars owing to the symmet-J rical 4distribution of the sound producing mass.v l `Any vsuitable means for suspending t'lie sound producing baue@ may' be employed such, for example, as ords 8 strung through` supporting ears 4 endend portions of the bars 1,'.the strings being tied at 5 to hold the bars in the desired positions. Resonating tubes 6 of any suitable formation are' Verpendicularlyvdisposed with-respect to the ars .1 and underlie their middle portions whereby the sound waves emanating from the bars may enter .the tubes. A number of these bars which are capable of producing the tones of a musical scale together with their resonating tubes are generally supported side by side longitudinally of thein- :strument and i.n\.close proximity. Sound Waves are liable to enter the tubes from adjacent tubes through the upper ends thereof :and in order to reduce this action the upperl -ends of the` tubes are desirably provided with caps 7 which are slotted at 8, these :slots extending longitudinally of the bars, 1

and transversely of the. instrument as a whole, this characteristic being set forth in my co-pending application Serial No. 807664, filed Dec. 19, 1913. Slots 8 are provided 1u4 the caps .f' and extend longitudinally ofthe sounding bars under which the caps are disposed, each slot 8 having a slot 9 that preferably constitutes a continuation of the slot Sfand is located in the portions of the resonating tubes which face a side of the instrument.

The tubes are desirably formed in telescoping sections whereby the llength thereof may be adjusted to bring the sounds emanating. from the vtubes into tune with the sounds initiated by striking the sounding bars, `the tonal adjustment secured by adjusting the parts of each tubel being secured by means of a clamping screw 10 in clamping connection withears 11 that are upon opposite sides of a slot 12in the outer tele' scoping tube section. Fig. o number of horizontal lines marked lowpitch warm illustrates a whic someof the features which are disclosed .in

my VPatent 747,340, issued December 15, 1993 and relatingl to musical-finstruments.

In Figs. 2, ,Ei-and 6 the ,length of the air column is increased by means of a llongitudinally disposed partition 13 and 3.-,traua are medium cold high pitch with which the bottom diephregm 2l muy be unused to vibrate es ontinuution 'thereof indicated et l-l` wlle by there is iorined u supplemental tubi er lengtha the partition I3 terminating sulliciently above the closed botto-in 'l5 ci' the tube so that the sound muy be freely propagated through the increased length oi the sir column thus provided. In order to reduce the return or reection in the tube of the sound directed downwardly into the tube t ic bottom 'l5 oi the tube is mede sein lolmler.)` the purtition 13 terminating et its lower end substantially ut the center ci the senii-globulnr end piece i5 whereby the sound wave will .smoothly round the poso'e into the portion of the sir column ut the lower port ot the tube end to the right of the partition i3. Further to promote the desired pussefe ci the sound Waves around the bottom or the tube the lower margin of thc partition i3 is desirably rounded es indicated et 16, such rounding' being formed by 'u sinell cylinder or curved body extend ing dialnet ice-ily ci' the tube where the pertition 13 terminates.

Stili referring more particularlyto Fig. 2, litwe'provided the resoneting tube with a sound 'Wave conducting outlet thut in the form oft u bore of e. Y`e portion i7 which bore communicates withne upper end of the lower brunch of the ein column within the tube. 'eferring now zilsoto 3 und n the element lf? has s. reducedouter end 1S upon 'which a. oep i9 is threaded,y this cup havn lnnnled lieng'e 2O by which it muy oc tur ed along the pipe portion i8. The

cup supports e, 'vibrant diaphragm 2l uf'hich is to vibrate in. corrcspondeme ivith the vibrations o' the sound. Waves und the extent of Whf se 'vibration is to be determined by turning` the cup upon 'the threaded ente-1n x sion lf3 so us to very the degree oi pressure which is to ice-exerted between the outer end of the e ension 18 und the diaphragm 2i, thereby delicately to adjust the tension oi the diaphragm to adjust its Vibration. The outrr end of the pipe portion 18 is desirubly rounded in cross section es indicated clearly in 3 und i so that therei is u smooth rounded edge or lip pressed against the diuphrsgm by e pressure which regulated by the turningg'4 of thev ccp 19 by means of the knurled flange 20. Qly this mechanism the desired. The diaphragm 2l. ist. thin inembrune generally of delicate material und has therefore to be protectedy by some device such as n, cop 23 threaded upon the buse por tion of the elementi?, thiscep having un opening through, which sound wves muy poss. The delicate diaphragm is prevented trom being injured by the temperature ci? the hund of the adjuster 'if the knurled flange is alone engaged for the purpose nieuwe of udjusting the diaphragm tension. Any suitable Ineens may be employed for fasteninnY the diaphragm in position, such, for example, :is the cylindrical'heads of wax 24.

In Iliff. 7 I have illustrated vthe structure having the` diaphragm Q1 et the bottom of the resonating tube which is unprovided with u partition 13. It will be. unnecessary to describe the structure shown inFig. 7 as the parts illustrated et the lower portion thereof are similar to correspondingly illustinted parts in Figs. 3 and 4 and to which similar characters of reference have vbeen applied. In the case of the structures shown in Figs. 2 and 7, the cap 23- may be in the lform of a horn the better to direct the sound waves set up 'by the diaphragm 21. `While I have herein shown and particularly described the preferred embodiment of my invention I do not Wish to be limited to the precise details of construction shown as changes muy readily bc made Without departing from the spirit of my invention, but

Having thus described my invention I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters lutent the iollowinol. A lmusical .instrument including :1 cy. lindricul resonutingtube for receiving sound Awaves ut one end and closed et its opposite `end by s semi-'globular closure, the tube being provided with e. partition Within the is-.unc Aextending longitudinally thereof, this pertition terminating et the center of Suid closure et one end, said partition having a continuation et its other end extendingtronsversely thereof whereby the interior of the tube is subdivided into a continuous uir column of n. length greater thon the tube.

2. A musical instrument including a resonuting tube; hi smuller pipe connected with i the resonotingtube; u cup adjustable longitudinally of the pipe und u. diaphragm carried by the cap und engaged with the outer end of the pipe und Whose tension. is'odjusted by the adjustment of the cup upon Suid pipe.

3. A musical instrument including a resoneting` tube; u smaller pipe connected with the resoneting tube; u cup in threaded connection with the pipe so as to be adjustable longitudinally of said pipe; and u diaphragm carried by the cup and engaged with the outer end of the pipe and Whose tension is adjusted by the adjustment of the cup upon seid pipe.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my nomethis twentieth doy of Mey A. D., 1913.

JOHN C. DEAGN.

'Witnesses z G. L. CnAcs,

lilium L. WHITE. 

